‘The Hunger Games” Potential Prequels Will Stretch the Franchise “On and On and On”

By Michael Epstein

Dec 9, 2015

Share:

Though the Mockingjay: Part 2 closed the book on Hollywood’s adaptation of the The Hunger Games book series, Lionsgate Studios has made it clear that they have every intention of continuing to expand the franchise’s universe.Speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York Tuesday, Lionsgate Entertainment Vice Chairman Michael Burns said the studio is already planning to make a series of prequels set in series’ world of Panem, allowing the series to continue “on and on and on.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the prequels will likely revolve around the Hunger Games tournaments before Katniss Everdeen entered the ring. The first part of The Hunger Games tells the story of the 74th tournament, leaving plenty of potential history for writers to draw on.

“The one thing that kids say they missed [from the Mockingjay films] was there were no arenas,” said Burns. “If we went backwards, there obviously would be arenas.”

Burns compared the Hunger Games series to Harry Potter franchise, which came to the big screen as an adaptation, but will soon expand into a trans-media universe with the upcoming film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, an original story inspired by an ancillary text about the Harry Potter universe.

According to The Guardian, Burns noted that this approach likely meant that these films would probably not see the return of the series’ star, Jennifer Lawrence, as future films could not organically feature her character, Katniss Everdeen.

While Burns specifically pointed to The Hunger Games series as a target for franchise expansion, he said the studio planned to push sequels or reboots of their most popular franchises, including Twilight, Saw and The Expendables.